


finding my way home (and moving forward)

by goldenspecter, Keeryd



Category: Rise of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (Cartoon 2018), Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (TV 2012)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Angst and Hurt/Comfort, Bad Parent Splinter (TMNT), Bonding, Comfort/Angst, Crossover, Depression, Emotional Baggage, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Emotional Roller Coaster, Family Feels, Family Issues, Gen, Good Parent Splinter (TMNT), Grief/Mourning, Hurt/Comfort, Post-Episode: s03e25-26 Annihilation: Earth!, Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder - PTSD, The 2012 turtles & friends need fucking therapy, Therapy
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-11-26
Updated: 2021-01-27
Packaged: 2021-03-09 04:15:32
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 7,433
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27207985
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/goldenspecter/pseuds/goldenspecter, https://archiveofourown.org/users/Keeryd/pseuds/Keeryd
Summary: Out of sheer curiosity, Leonardo and Donatello looked up, and there it was.A portal.Had the Universe really taken pity on them? Had it really heard his desperate prayers for one more chance?It was not like the ones they had seen before, it was an irregular circle made up of several shades of blue, completely different from the perfect and symmetrical pink triangles of the Kraang.Leonardo and Donatello looked into each other's eyes for a few moments, "Should we go in?" Donatello asked, almost shouting, drawing the attention of the others, who quickly turned to the portal and to see each other, then the two brothers in question."It's our best bet, and our only chance," replied Leonardo.Or rather, with the 2012 kids' home gone, they end up in the Rise verse after a strange portal shows up. Therapy is needed, and start the slow process of healing from their trauma.
Relationships: And a hella lot more, Donatello & Karai & Leonardo & Michelangelo & Raphael (TMNT), Donatello & Leonardo & Michelangelo & April O'Neil & Raphael (TMNT), Donatello & Leonardo & Michelangelo & Raphael (TMNT)
Comments: 27
Kudos: 269





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Hey there!
> 
> We made a playlist for the fic, here are the links for y'all  
> youtube: [ Youtube Playlist ](https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLDF5LZGMmifr2F44wN0w2EigyzgbWPSEP)  
> spotify:  Spotify Playlist   
> hope y'all enjoy the ride

They had come so close to stopping it all.

So close to saving humanity and the Earth once again.

The last few seconds that felt like victory was in their hands were now buried under the agonizing realization that all was lost because of Shredder's irrational hatred and resentment against their father. The weapon had been activated, their father was now on the ground bleeding to death, already unconscious. This time, with no chance of survival, just like everything else on Earth.

With his father's body in the arms of the turtles, Leonardo could only look up to the sky, and how everything was slowly being consumed by the black hole. He knew that soon, within a few minutes that his end would come, the end of his brothers and friends but at the same time, those few minutes felt like an eternity that slowly passed by. The screams of millions of people and his brothers’ weeping coalesced to form what seemed to be the perfect melody for the apparent ending of the world.

Michelangelo was shivering beside him, crying his heart out, and clinging to his father's body in his final moments. Raphael tried to comfort him even just a little, with Donnie crying silently and a lost look somewhere far away.

It really was the end, and Leonardo saw his and his brothers' lives passing through his eyes.

He could clearly see his family in their more peaceful years, where all they had to worry about was what they would play, who would be the hero or villain, or if Splinter would bring them some new toy from his trips to the strange surface away from home. He could see Michelangelo, still a child, hiding behind his father in one of those many times when his jokes against Donatello or Raphael made them angry, laughing mischievously. He could see Donatello during his first experiments and the small explosions that the same experiments ended up provoking. He could see once again Raphael's wonder-filled eyes when he met Spike for the first time and how he had begged Splinter to keep him.

And of course, he can see the lucid image of his father, sitting in his small room drinking his tea in peace.

He could see himself with his family at one of the many family dinners they had. At first, it was just the five of them then there were seven with April and Casey. These were moments he would never get back, never relive; perhaps it was the effect of the black hole above him, but he felt incapable of breathing or even crying.

Leonardo knew that there were higher forces, there was one at the moment currently destroying his home. So, even with embarrassment in his mind, he asks anything or anyone out there in the universe to take pity on his brothers, his friends, his allies, the people who had supported them in the endless battles against the Kraang, the people who had no idea of their existence, and even perhaps their enemies. He only asked for one more chance, for some sign to tell him, to scream at him, that not all was lost, that there was a chance for his family to survive.

Those long, eternal minutes seemed to be coming to an end, with April, Casey, and Karai around the brothers, waiting. Leonardo impulsively drew his brothers against himself as much as possible, hugging them, in a desperate and irrational attempt to protect them one last time; closing his eyes tightly, he felt ready for what was to come.

Amidst all the noise, there's an alien 'buzz' coming from somewhere close to them. Out of sheer curiosity, Leonardo and Donatello looked up, and there it was.

A portal.

Had the universe really taken pity on them? Had it really heard his desperate prayers for one more chance?

It was not like the ones they had seen before, it was an irregular circle made up of several shades of blue, completely different from the perfect and symmetrical pink triangles of the Kraang.

Leonardo and Donatello looked into each other's eyes for a few moments. "Should we go in?" Donatello asked, almost shouting, drawing the attention of the others, who quickly turned to the portal and to see each other, then the two brothers in question.

"It's our best bet... and our only chance," replied Leonardo, rising quickly but gently placing Splinter's head on the ground.

All on their feet, they quickly made their way to the portal. The first to enter had been Raphael, followed by Michelangelo, then Karai, Casey, and April, the last two holding hands. Donatello went later, and at the end Leonardo, looking one last time around him, as the corpse of his father was floating towards the universal anomaly that was destroying his world. 

Taking strength, and not turning back again, he jumped into the blue portal.

* * *

While in free fall, Leonardo could see the side of the portal through which they had entered closing, depriving them of their only source of light. 

The silence was unbearable. Although he knew his brothers and friends were just below (or above?) him, there was no way of knowing or hearing them, his ears seemed to be plagued by the sound of static that his old TV used to emit when the signal went out on a bad night, only that it was way worse. 

He could hear his own breathing, the accelerated beating of his heart, and he could feel every drop of sweat that ran down his body before disappearing into the gloom.

Leonardo knew he was scared, barely able to even process what had happened moments before with his mind going a mile a minute. What would they find on the other side? Perhaps he had only led them to their death. Maybe there was no escape from all that had happened and he only succeeded in delaying their deaths.

But no, he had to hope that they could save the Earth, that they could fix the disaster of unimaginable proportions that they had been unable to prevent. So breathing-how was he even able to breathe?-deeply, trying to stop his heart and mind from racing, holding even more tightly the handle of his katanas, Leonardo was able to see a small light appear in front of him in the distance, and along with it, the silhouettes of his friends and brothers going straight towards it. 

He had to be ready for whatever was on the other side, ready to protect them even if it meant taking his last breath. 

Breathing deeply once more, Leonardo prepared to go out through the portal, the closer he got, the more he could hear the sounds of what he could only compare to the noise of a big city like his New York.

He didn't really want to close his eyes but ended up doing so at the last second, feeling the energy of the portal one last time before really falling, and opening his eyes at the last second, only managing to see a rooftop. 

The blow to the ground had not been fun, but reacting quickly to search for his family, who seemed fine, he only found a turtle in front of him extending his hand to him to help him get up.

"Oh boy- are you fine?”


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Introductions are made, pizza is gotten and apologies are given.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey folks, we're here with the next chapter! I think me and Kee are going to try and write a chapter ahead before we post the next chapter. Sorry it took us so long to deliver this chapter. School and personal life has been beating the shit out of us.

Leonardo had accepted the hand that was offered to him, allowing them to pull him up. He didn’t give thought to how much bigger the other hand was in comparison to his, too focused on trying to bear his surroundings. Once he was on his feet, he was just about to thank whoever helped him up to his feet when he looked up and noticed that the turtle was much, much taller than he was. The second thing he noticed was that the other turtle was wearing a red mask that covered his head. 

“Who are you?” Leonardo asked, reaching behind his shell to pull out his katanas. Even though he was weary from witnessing his father dying in his arms and jumping through an unknown portal to save his remaining family, he was on edge and ready to attack this stranger if they tried to hurt his family. 

“I’m Raph,” the other turtle said. 

“No you aren’t,” said Leonardo. “Raph’s short. He has green eyes. He has a temper the size of Texas. Where is Raph? Where is my family?”

“The short turtles and the three humans?” ‘Raph’ asked. Leonardo gave a curt nod. “Oh, my brothers are helping them. I think Don has your Raph, I think he has a concussion.”

Leonardo looked behind ‘Raph’ and sure enough, this ‘Don’ was helping his brother up and seemed to be inspecting him. The blue masked turtle side stepped Big Raph and walked up to his Raph, suspiciously eyeing the other purple masked turtle. 

“Raph, you okay?” Leonardo asked, looking over his immediate younger brother for any injuries other than the ones that came from their recent fight. 

Raphael waved Leonardo off, “I’m fine. Head hurts, that’s all,” he groused and then punched his older brother in the arm, “I heard what you said about my temper.”

Leonardo wanted to laugh in relief because if Raphael was okay, then the rest of his family had to be okay. They were strong, they were resilient, they could make it through this. “I didn’t say anything that wasn’t true,” he said in response. Raphael glared at him before rolling his eyes and the two hobbled over to the rest of their family. 

Donatello pulled himself up off the ground and looked around, “Where are we?” he asked, and then caught sight of four turtles wearing masks with the same colors as him and his brothers. “ _ Who are they?”  _

“They gotta be another us!” Michelangelo piped up, springing up to his feet. He helped Karai, closest to him, get up to her feet. “Don’t you guys remember when we were trying to find Dimension X and we saw that portal that had those dorky looking versions of us?”

“Wasn’t I wearing that yellow jumpsuit?” said April. “Casey still had that stupid mask of his.”

“Ain’t nothing stupid about that mask, Red,” argued Casey as he leaned in, closing the group huddle that the group of teens had subconsciously formed. “It protects my beautiful face.”

“I remember that,” Donatello said, and rolled his eyes at Casey, “Casey’s vanity aside, maybe we should keep our guard up around these versions of ourselves, we don’t know what they’re like. Maybe they’re dangerous.”

“Isn’t that what Leonardo supposed to say?” Karai said, 

“Who made you the expert on how to handle meeting yourself?” Michelangelo scoffed, “We could just ask them.”

“Mikey, that’s just plain stupid. A potential enemy wouldn’t share his intentions right off the bat,” Leonardo said, “We have to be on guard at all times with these other guys. Who knows what they might want to do to us.”

A hand clasped Leonardo’s shoulders, drawing the group’s attention. “Couldn’t help but overhear you all talking about me and my brothers and our possible nefarious intentions,” drawled the other blue-masked turtle with such a dramatic flair, they all silently wondered if this was this world’s version of Leon. “I think this would all be solved if you simply  _ asked _ us what our intentions were.”

Leonardo’s full-body flinch was visible to everyone around him and he stiffly moved his arm to remove the other’s hand off his shoulder. He then moved his body to where he was standing in front of everyone, shielding them if need be. “Everyone knows that your potential enemy wouldn’t air his intentions for the world to hear,”

“Where’d you get that from? A book?” The other him said with a laugh. “You sound like Don when he won’t stop talking smart people talk. Besides everyone knows that you lose a potential ally by not having a little trust in them.”

“I like this you Leo,” Michelangelo said, “He knows what he’s talking about.”

“Quiet Mikey,” Raphael hushed, “We don’t know what these guys are up to.” He brandished one of his sais, unwilling to believe the other blue masked wearing turtle at his word. 

Tall Raph walked up to them and stepped in between his Leo and the group of teens. “We were going to get some pizza when Leon’s portal got jacked and you all came out through it,” Tall Raph explained. 

Leonardo rested his hand over Raph’s and gently pushed down the hand holding his sai while eyeing Tall Raph suspiciously. “Was it a blue portal?” he questioned, trying to catch the other in a lie, something that would tip him off to potential danger. 

“Yea. Aren’t all portals blue?” 

“What did it look like?”

If Tall Raph had eyebrows, he would be furrowing them in confusion. “It looked like a circle? Aren’t portals in your world shaped like circles too?”

What Tall Raph had said so far, matched up with what Leonardo had seen. Now, Leonardo was stumped. He didn’t know what else to do, or what else to say. There was a chance that this Raph could be lying, biding his time until he and the others attacked them. There was a chance that he could be telling the truth but from the many betrayals he went through at the hands of Karai, that chance was extremely slim. 

“That checks out,” Leonardo said slowly, he was still unsure. Unsure of what dangers belied his family, unsure of what these turtles were truly like, unsure if they would be able to go home and save it. 

“Leo,” April said softly, “He’s telling the truth. They won’t hurt us.”

Leonardo trusted April. He trusted her with his life, and his family’s life, so he will trust them for now. 

“Okay,” said Leonardo. “I believe you.”

Tall Raph smiled big and wide, a smile that was meant to be inviting and trustworthy with that snaggletooth of his hanging over his bottom lip. That smile didn’t fit him, it shouldn’t be there. That smile, minus the snaggletooth belonged to Mikey. Mikey was the one who should be smiling like that. Tall Raph was supposed to be grumpy, grouchy, and stomp around with the biggest frown/glare that he could muster. “Well um, I’m Raph, as I’ve said already, and these guys are my younger brothers.”

Leonardo leaned over so he could introduce his family. “I’m Leonardo, and these are my brothers. April is the one with red hair, Casey is the one with the greasy hair and missing several teeth, and Karai is the other one.”

“The other one?” Karai said, her voice lacking any bite to it.

“I didn’t know how to describe you,” Leonardo said.

“You could have said older sister, since you know, I am your older sister,” she said. Karai then looked up at Raph. “I’m their older sister.”

A fourth turtle appeared from behind Raph and from the orange bandanna, Leonardo knew that this was the other Mikey, who hesitantly waved at him. “I can’t believe that we’re really meeting another us,” Mikey said, in a tight voice that tried and failed to suppress his excitement at the current situation. “Don, what do you think they’re like?”

“Ninjas,” Don said in a flat voice. “Ninjas.”

“How’d you guess that? That’s what I was going to say!” Mikey whined. 

“They have ninja weapons, Micheal. The same ones we have,” Don said in a deadpan voice. “They’re ninjas.”

“Can I get a refund on my other me? Because he has no pizzazz or razzamatazz,” Leo said, pointing at Leonardo. “I spark joy but I sense nothing that is sparking joy from this one.”

“How’d you know?” Michelangelo asked in awe. 

Karai snorted, “Anyone can spot Leo’s lack of pizzazz a mile away. He has a boring meter that’s off the charts.”

“I have a built-in pizzazz radar. That is how I know who and what has  _ pizzazz,”  _ Leon said, waving his hands in a jazz-hands style, “He is tipping off my negative pizzazz radar.”

“Yea that sounds about right,” Casey agreed, “No offense Leo but like, it’s true.”

Leonardo rolled his eyes in annoyance. Didn’t they realize that this wasn’t the time for jokes? They needed to make a plan on what to do next, on how to work on getting back home and nothing would get done if all they were doing right now was making wisecracks at him. “Now that we’ve introduced ourselves and seemed to have collectively decided that I have no pizzazz, can we all figure out what we are going to do next?”

“My stomach has already decided what I’m going to do next,” Raphael said aloud. “Falling through a portal makes a turtle hungry.”

“Oh yea the pizzas,” Don snapped his fingers as he remembered. “You wanna come with us to get with them, you guys look-”

“Like you're about to drop dead?” Mikey suggested. 

“Like absolute shit?” said Leo. 

Don glared at his younger two brothers. “Hungry,” he said. “I was going to say hungry.”

“Yea, let’s get some pizzas!” Michelangelo said. “Where is this pizza place anyways?”

“It’s a few blocks away,” Raph said, “We should get a move on before the pizza place closes.”

“Aren’t you going to get it delivered to a sewer grate?” Donatello said. 

“Why would we do that? That sounds really dumb. What if the germs of New York get on the pizza box through the sewer grate?” Leon questioned, putting his hands on his hips. “What good would the pizza be if it was contaminated in such a manner?”

“Wow Leon,” Mikey said, “I think this is the first time in a while you’ve used your brain other to annoy Don. You should try it more often.”

Don’s eyes widened as he looked away from Mikey and Leon, and pressed a hand to his mouth, trying his best not to bust out laughing. Raph rolled his eyes in amusement and gestured for the group to follow him, with his brothers following along seconds later as they started making their way to the pizza shop. 

* * *

Leonardo knew that this wasn’t his home. He knew that but as he walked the streets of New York, it really solidified the crushing fact that this wasn’t his home. It was so much brighter than what he was used to at home with the dimly lit street lamps and the grunge, washed-out filter that seemed to be permanently painted over New York. Had New York always been this bright, this blinding? How did anyone see in a place so filled with light? How did anyone hear in a place that was always bustling and filled with sound?

Leonardo didn’t know but he knew that he would have to figure it out one way or another, as much as he didn’t want to. Raphael poked him in the arm, pulling him out of his thoughts, and the first thing he noticed was that they were all facing a wall with typical New York graffiti on it. 

How were they going to get pizza from here?

It seemed that Raphael had read his mind, gruffly asking, “No offense buddy, but like, how are you gonna get pizza from a wall? Mikey might be an idiot but he hasn’t stooped low enough to think he can get food from a wall.”

Michelangelo seemed to be too deep in his conversation with Mikey to take notice or to take offense to that.

Donnie gave him a weird look. “It’s not about what’s on the wall,” Donnie explained as Raph stepped forward, holding his hand out, moving it in a ‘come here’ motion and everyone watched in awe and confusion as Raph’s hand was engulfed in cold blue fire. The graffiti on the wall warped into itself and revealed a restaurant filled to the brim with mutants. “It’s about what’s  _ behind  _ the wall.”

“Your world must have itself some sort of magic system,” Donatello concluded.

“It’s mystic energy, but I guess I can see how you could mistake the two,” Don corrected, “Come in, we don’t want other humans seeing this.”

Everyone had stepped in and entered the restaurant. Leo and Donnie bickered and argued as they made their way over to a skeleton mutant, who seemed to be in charge of this whole restaurant. The three mutants started a conversation, which appeared to mostly be the skeleton mutant looking on in agitation and shaking his head in disapproval before going in the back and coming out with several boxes of pizza. 

Leo and Donnie walked back towards the others, each boy holding a few boxes of pizza. “We have what we came here for,” Leon said as they walked out of the restaurant and ended up back in the alley. “Pizza and not a single one of them with pineapple on it.”

“As it should be,” Donnie harrumphed. “Pineapple doesn’t belong on pizza.”

“Yes it does,” Michelangelo said. “It totally, likes, mellows out the pizza. Adds a bit of sweetness to it. Perfection.”

Leo grinned hearing that, “I like this one. I am liking him a lot,” his grin grew wider as he looked at Donnie. “Finally, there is someone who has a decent food palate!”

“You shouldn’t have done that,” Mikey muttered in playful annoyance, “Now he’s gonna be cocky for the rest of the week.”

Raph pulled up the manhole cover, allowed the other versions of himself, his brothers, and their friends to go down first, Mikey going down next, Leo and Donnie going down at the same time with Raph being the last to go down, pulling the manhole cover back over the sewer entrance. 

* * *

New York was brighter than the New York back at home, so of course, it would stand to reason that even their sewers were brighter. The water seemed clean and bluer than the grimy, brown water that covered the floors of the sewers back at home. If he was younger and had seen these sewers, Leonardo would have loved to come here, to swim with his brothers and father, to swim in naivety and joy that hasn’t yet been torn to shreds. Leonardo wondered if everyone else noticed the brighter hues, how everything seemed so obvious and certain in the lighting of these sewers compared to the near darkness that hung over their sewers, that made you doubt what you saw, and look out of the corner of your eyes for something that possibly was never there in the first place. 

How did these versions handle all that brightness? How would they handle the washed-out colors that Leonardo and his family lived in?

Before Leonardo knew it, they had made it to the lair. Not their lair. Their lair was gone with their father, their friends, and the earth as a whole. But when he saw this lair for the first time, the first thing he had to do was shield his eyes because of how bright, how blinding it all was. How could anyone see in such bright lights? The second thing he did was noticed how the lair was structured, with skateboard ramps built into the walls of the multi-floored lair and skateboards strewn about the floor, rooms open and unguarded, ready for anyone to come in. It’s so different from their lair. More open, brighter, homier.

They had settled down in the middle of the atrium, their other versions opening up boxes of pizza and Leonardo hadn’t really noticed that he was sitting down or he was sitting slightly further away from the group. Leonardo had vaguely heard one of his brothers tell him to dig in and he did, absentmindedly grabbing a slice of pizza and started eating it. At some point, it’s gone, he reached out for another slice and it disappeared into his stomach. He’s too focused on the pizza to pay attention to the awkward silence hanging in the air or his youngest brother chatting at lengths with his other self. 

At some point, the pizzas are gone. At some point, their Splinter came out. He didn’t care that this Splinter was short, that this Splinter was apparently a movie star(“Oh your dad wasn’t a movie star? Shame,” he heard distinctly and the idea of  _ his _ father being a movie star made him want to laugh), that this Splinter was so much different than their father with worn-out robes, colors that were too bright, and fur that was the wrong color. Leonardo didn’t hear the inevitable questions of “Who are these turtles and where did they come from?” All he knew was that one second he was sitting on the ground and the next, he and his brothers and their friends all dived towards this world’s Splinter, their arms wrapped around him tightly, as if they can bring back their Splinter if they hugged him hard enough, as if their dad could feel the love they could not give him. 

“I'm sorry.”

Leonardo couldn’t figure out who exactly said it. Was it him? Did he say it? He wasn’t sure but he knew that it was soft and it was full of pain. It was an apology for not fighting hard enough, for failing their father, for not saving the world, for failing as badly as they did.

Thin, short arms stretched out as much as they could to tightly hug the group, to pull them in tighter, to protect them from all their hurts. 

“You’re forgiven.”

It was equally soft and full of pain, but the love could not be mistaken. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hope you liked this chapter!!


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A venture to the Hidden City is made.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Here's the next update! This chapter was originally 7k words long but got split into two, so there might be a weird cut off?

Strangely, despite the fatigue that Michelangelo had been feeling since the moment everything stopped being an enemy or a potential trap, sleeping had not been entirely easy. 

After dinner and a long and wonderful talk with his counterpart from that dimension, and that little moment where everyone had thrown themselves into the arms of the other Splinter, where he may or may not have cried a little, the time had come to get organized for sleep. The other Mikey ( _"You can call me Angelo, no problem!"_ ) or Angelo, had explained to him that they had a few free rooms. In the end, they had only ended up using two, which were side by side, one with April, Casey and Karai, and another with Michelangelo and his brothers. 

Michelangelo had always been the quickest to fall asleep among his brothers. With the added bonus that they would be sleeping in the same room after years of not doing so, it should have given him a little more security and peace of mind to let his body rest for a few long, sweet hours. But no, despite having his brothers less than six inches away, Michelangelo had serious trouble sleeping that night. 

He didn't want to think much about... _everything_ in general. But there he was, hands behind his head, looking at the barely visible ceiling thanks to the lighting outside the room, moving his foot back and forth constantly; and Michelangelo knew well that the less he wanted to think about something, the more his mind would remind him of it. So, it was impossible not to constantly remember his father being murdered from behind by Shredder, to hear his scream of pain just inches away from stopping the Triceratons’ Black Hole Generator, to hear the thousands of screams he had heard in the distance when the weapon was already in motion and just minutes away from destroying everything they knew. 

Wow, that was hard to even process. The fact that they had come **_so_ ** close to stopping it all, and seconds later, their home and planet were gone. 

No, he won’t think like that. Shaking his head slightly, patting his cheeks to stop thinking about it for at least a few moments and wiping the little tears from his eyes about to fall, he turned his head to look around. 

Raphael and Donatello were at his sides, with Leonardo on the other side of Donatello. Michelangelo knew that his brothers were asleep, he could tell by the slow, quiet breathing. Once or twice throughout the night, they seemed to be having a bad dream, but nothing that seemed intense enough to wake up. Seeing his taller brother, Michelangelo was sure it was the first time in months that he had slept this soundly, the same for his other two older brothers. 

At least they were all here together. At least he still had his brothers. At least he wasn't alone.

* * *

The next day, things had been going relatively smoothly. Not that his brothers let Michelangelo know much, and he didn't want to know if it was very bad news either, especially with the little he had managed to sleep.

Breakfast had been... okay

The night before he hadn't been able to notice how uncomfortable the silence was between his brothers and Angelo's during dinner, but at that moment, with Angelo still half asleep and busy with the now over ten-person breakfast, there was really no one to talk to. Michelangelo had tried to offer his help, but his counterpart had probably noticed how shitty he looked from the little sleep he had and told him it was okay, that he could sit and wait, that he would ask his Leo for help.

The two purple-masked turtles were not at the table, so he had assumed that while he was sleeping, Donatello had gotten up and left to start working on trying to fix the catastrophe of his dimension with his counterpart. His other two brothers were still there, along with the giant Raph, who, if he had to accept it, scared him a little. Of course, Angelo was with his Leo cooking in harmony, except for the parts where Angelo raised his voice slightly because his brother wasn't doing something right in the kitchen.

At least it seemed to be a universal rule that Leonardo had no cooking skills. That was comforting. 

Their friends were still asleep, and with just the four of them at the table, there wasn't much to say. The giant Raph seemed to be looking for something to talk about, by the way he opened his mouth, and after a few seconds he closed it again and slouched down, looking defeated. 

He seemed to be friendly. The complete opposite of his Raphael, but maybe this was just a facade and turned out to be just like his brother, only bigger and able to hit even harder. 

Yawning slightly, Michelangelo settled back into his crossed arms on the table, and wanting to stop thinking about how hard that Raph might be able to hit, he turned his attention to his brothers, who were sitting next to him. From the way they were sitting, he could tell that both were tense. Raphael was a little more expressive than Leonardo, who had a cup of tea in his hands, but tense all the same. He couldn’t blame them, they were probably anxious to start doing something besides waiting for breakfast. 

He knew that his brothers would look for a way to return to their dimension and save the planet from under the rocks if necessary, but deep down, Michelangelo felt that maybe they wouldn't be able to do any of that, that they would have to stay there because there was nothing else for them in their dimension.

Michelangelo didn't really want to think about it, it was painful and every time he remembered his father's body in his arms he felt his chest hurt, along with the fact that they couldn't give him a proper funeral, since his body had been lost along with everything else in the black hole. 

"So... how did you guys sleep?" Raph asked in a soft voice, taking Michelangelo out of his thoughts. 

Leonardo looked up from his cup, "We slept well, thank you," he replied politely. Raphael just nodded, saying nothing. 

The conversation seemed to end there. Michelangelo sighed slightly, wanting to be able to leave the kitchen as soon as possible. Fortunately for him, he could hear the footsteps of his friends behind him; while Karai seemed to be completely ready to start the day, the other two seemed to be even more asleep than awake, something he could easily notice as they sat down except for Karai, who stood between Michelangelo and Leonardo. 

Saying good morning, some with more energy than others, Angelo announced that breakfast was ready, and Michelangelo wasted no time in getting up to help Angelo and Nardo put it on the table, barely realizing how hungry he really was. 

Once the table had been set, everyone began to eat breakfast, which consisted of toast, fried eggs, some cereal, coffee, and among other things. A few minutes later, the remaining brothers, Don and Donatello, appeared, lured in by the smell of coffee in the coffee pot. After they served themselves two cups of coffee, stealing several slices of toast, they disappeared again behind the door of what Michelangelo could only assume was Don's laboratory. 

Losing them behind the closed door, Michelangelo turned his attention back to his breakfast and held conversation with anyone who addressed him, even if he didn't have the energy for it. To be honest, he wondered if they would let him go back to the room they used and try to sleep some more. Knowing Leonardo, he would make them train and he was in no rush to give his older brother a reason to consider it any time soon. 

With his plate practically clean, glass of juice half empty, Michelangelo thought it would be best to help Angelo, who was picking up around the kitchen, with the dishes. Angelo smiled at him when he realized what he was doing. Smiling back, Michelangelo nodded slightly with some plates and glasses already in his hands.

Looking at the kitchen bar, it wasn't as dirty as he expected, it was just a few pans laying around next to the dishes they had used. Washing them shouldn't take more than half an hour if he started now. Getting down to business, Michelangelo began with the small task he had decided to take on. 

While Michelangelo was distracted, the others continued talking, and from what he could hear from time to time, they were planning what to do during the night. As always, Leonardo had suggested accompanying Rafa and his team during the patrol to get familiar with their New York, only to meet the occasional protest from Nardo, and find out that their counterparts did not patrol as often as they used to.

His friends and sister were still at the table with their two older brothers and their counterparts, discussing what they could do while the purple-masked turtles made some progress, and that's when Angelo leaned over Nardo’s shoulders and said with poorly contained excitement. "Why don't we take them to see the Hidden City?"

"The Hidden City?" asked Raphael, crossing his arms and leaning over to the table, with interest.

"Yeah, it's a city that well... is hidden under New York. The name's pretty self explanatory, pal" Nardo explained laughing, earning a grunt from Raphael and a slight nudge from his older brother.

Michelangelo laughed to himself after that, already half way through the dishes. After a few comments against Raphael by Nardo, and more grunts in response from Michelangelo's older brother, the conversation moved on.

"What is it exactly?" asked Karai, with her usual serene but insightful face.

"It's a city where the yokai live. Apparently a few centuries ago something forced them to hide underground, although we have never asked more about it," answered Rafa, "Do you remember how last night we entered through a portal to a restaurant? It was Señor Hueso's pizza shop, a yokai we met the first time we entered the city some time ago, and well, there are quite a few of those portals around the city".

The more Michelangelo heard about the city, the more excited he felt. All their lives had been spent hiding in the shadows, being no more than a questionable blur in the peripheral view of humans in New York, cryptids where humans weren’t really sure if they existed but he had the chance to walk around as if he belonged? It sounded too good to be true, but maybe that was what his family, friends, and himself, needed; just a little time to relax, even if his older brother's body language said the opposite of wanting to stop for a moment. 

Finally done with the kitchen, he smiled slightly to himself, wiping his hands with a cloth he had found, then heading back to the table where the others were and sitting next to Karai, who was in his seat for breakfast.

"Sounds about right," Michelangelo snickered at Casey's little answer. "Not gonna lie guys, I wanna see that Hidden City so bad, sounds like a freaking cool place."

"Hey, in this case, I'm gonna side with Casey, sounds like an interesting place to visit," said April, sipping the coffee cup in her hands.

"Yeah! I really wanna go there too! a place where we don't have to hide? Sign me up bro!" followed Michelangelo, almost bouncing in place. If he had to be honest, he was a little ecstatic to go out and explore, to see New York one more time, even if it wasn't the New York he remembered.

Michelangelo could see the indecision on Leonardo's face, even considering whether it was a good idea or not. But when he sighed and put his cup of tea on the table, Michelangelo knew what decision he had made. 

"Okay, let's go to the Hidden City then."

* * *

He was excited. There was no other way to put it. 

After the conversation over breakfast, everyone had gone their separate ways in anticipation of the night; Michelangelo having decided that it was best to hang out with Angelo to kill time, and because he really enjoyed spending time with him, even if they barely had a day to get to know each other.

They had spent much of the day inside Angelo's room. Between talks, the two spent the occasional silence sketching, along with a short break to prepare something to eat for both them and anyone who came into the kitchen at the time. Michelangelo had never had anyone who understood him as well as his counterpart. Perhaps it was the fact that they were the same person but from different dimensions had something to do with it, which was fine with him. 

Maybe that's how it was with everyone. Maybe there was a core that made them, be _them,_ no matter how many differences there were between dimensions. He was curious on the subject, if his little idea was right, if there were other dimensions, if all the Mikeys had a love of art, if all the Donatellos were incomparable geniuses. But now wasn't the time to ponder over that, he decided, as he was sitting on the bed in his little self's room and soon saw Angelo pull a couple of hoodies out of a small closet. 

"So," Angelo drawled, his lips forming an ‘o’ as he waved the three hoodies in front of Michelangelo. "Which one do you want?" 

Michelangelo? Wearing clothes? That sounded preposterous. "I don't think you've taken a good look at me," he said with a hollow self deprecating laugh, gesturing to his whole body. "But clothes aren't meant for me." 

Angelo pulled his head back, offended. "That's absolute nonsense," he said. "Anyone can rock a hoodie, even you!" 

Michelangelo gave a wary look at the hoodie, then up at Angelo. "I just don't think your eyes are working properly." 

Angelos' mouth flew open. "How dare you insult my honor and your honor?" he said. 

He didn't mean to insult Angelo like that. Michelangelo waved his hands back and forth, trying to placate the younger. "No, no, no, no! It's not like that," he said. "I didn't mean to offend you! Is there anything I can do to fix this?" 

Angelo pretended to think for a moment before holding up a hoodie. "Try a hoodie?" He asked innocently. 

Michelangelo puffed his cheeks. That little twerp, pulling one of his tricks. Angelo did a good job though, it's something he would have done to one of his brothers, back when everything was okay, back when the world wasn't fucked, back when they were all naive and had no idea what was in-store for them. 

He took the peach colored hoodie out of Angelo's hands. "I choose this one," he said.

* * *

By the time Michelangelo and Angelo made their way to the living room of the lair, everyone was already there waiting for them. 

In the end, Michelangelo had ended up wearing the hoodie Angelo had lent him. To be honest, he looked great in it. He hadn't had many opportunities in his life to actually wear clothes, much less human ones that didn't look like they were taken out of the garbage or even fit. Angelo was also wearing one of the hoodies he had shown him a while back. However, unlike his, Angelo’s hoodie had a zipper on it, which wasn’t zipped up. 

His siblings were already there, along with Casey and April, and for a moment it's easy to think that they're in their dimension, in their world, in their New York; just about to go out on patrol like any other night, during the easier times when they only had to worry about the Purple Dragons or the occasional horde of ninjas from the Foot Clan, but that little bubble is just as easily broken by the presence of their counterparts from this dimension.

It's not a bad thing, really. Angelo was great company, it makes him forget most of the time why he ended up in his dimension, and everything he lost. He shouldn't be thinking about it at that moment either, he's impatient to get out and see something else, to explore a new world. 

When both Mikeys finally set off on their respective paths with their respective brothers, no more than several feet away between the two groups. Michelangelo felt the gaze of his brothers land on him, the kind of look that made him want to hide in his shell even though it was an instinct he ignored most of the time. 

For a moment, he wondered if it was because he didn't have his gear on, but it wasn't. He could feel the weight of his gear weigh him down with every step he took, with his trusty nunchucks under his hoodie. He was prepared as he always was for any other patrol night. 

Finally, the first to speak was Raphael. "What are you wearing?" he asked, looking at him from head to toe, with that natural tone in his voice that made it sound as if anything and everything, no matter how small it was, irritated him. The same with his face when his green eyes narrowed, getting a closer look at the hoodie Angelo lent Michelangelo.

Well, Raphael was _always_ irritated. 

Michelangelo shrugged his shoulders, successfully trying not to let his brother's attitude affect him seeing he already had years of experience dealing with him and his anger. "A hoodie, duh," he replied. "Angelo let me borrow it, it looks great, doesn't it?" he said, grinning and posing as he showed off, his brothers just rolling their eyes in annoyance. 

Per usual, Michelangelo wasn’t sure why he would expect anything else from his three older brothers when they constantly looked at him like that. 

"Yeah, sure," responded Donatello, easily noticing the sarcasm in his voice.

The conversation died there. Michelangelo considered going with his counterpart again until he noticed that he was already busy, talking about what seemed to be the time they had spent together in his room. Better than that, he noticed how his three brothers, including Don who had his eyes on his cell phone screen, were paying attention to everything Angelo was telling them. _Huh,_ he thought, _that must be cool._

With a clap of his hands, the big Raph caught everyone's attention. "Alright, we should head out now, our friends are already waiting for us on the alley to the Hidden City," he said, receiving two types of responses: the loud ones, from Rafa's brothers, and the silent ones, with just a nod or a little 'yeah'. 

Michelangelo was somewhere in the middle.


End file.
